What are Joints?

A joint is location on a figure where two body parts meet at a point where they bend, twist, rotate, or bulge: for example, a human knee or an elbow is a joint. In Poser, these realistic figure movements are controlled by joint settings. These joint settings are applied through various options in the Joint Editor.

Poser’s traditional joint system utilizes the following:

• Spherical falloff zones that use inner and outer spheres of influence to determine which vertices move when a joint is rotated, and the amount of movement the vertices move.
• Capsule-shaped falloff zones that work similarly to spherical zones, but which allow more flexibility in defining the shapes of the inner and outer zones of influence.

In addition to the traditional falloff zones, weight-mapped bending controls offer increased flexibility in how vertices respond to movement. By providing both traditional and weight-mapped methods, Poser offers a three-fold solution that allows you to use traditional falloff zones, weight maps, or a combination of both. You get the best of both worlds!

A joint shown in the Joint Editor.